RHH's photos with the keyword: chuckanut mountains

The photo was taken from Oyster Dome in the Chuckanut Mountains and looks to the southwest over Padilla Bay, Samish Island and Hat Island, the refinery on Fidalgo Island, the town of Anacortes (also on Fidalgo Island) to Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains in the background.

When training for our Mount Baker climb, I did the Oyster Dome trail in the Chuckanut Mountains four times, each time with a pack containing two gallon jugs of water. The trail gains 2000 feet of elevation in three miles and is less than a half hour from home, which made it a perfect training site. This was taken on one of those hikes and is, I believe, the Sulfur Shelf, a Polypore fungus that is supposed to be quite common but which I've seen only this once. It was a bit damaged but still worth photographing or so I thought.

This was taken just a couple of hours ago from Oyster Dome in the Chuckanut Mountains and looks out over Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands. Son Edward, another friend and I are planning on climbing Mount Baker in a couple of weeks and decided to do the Oyster Dome trail this evening as part of our conditioning for the climb. We ended up going with a group that included my wife and number of other friends and did the seven mile round trip in a bit under four hours. We started at 6:00 and had to come down in the dark which seriously delayed us, but the sunset at the top made the difficulties of the descent worthwhile.

Taken on an orchid hunting trip in the area. Lake Padden is south of Bellingham in the Chuckanut Mountains and is a popular recreation area. The day was not very nice, the trails were muddy, but I found plenty of native orchids and enjoyed the few rays of sunshine that did break through. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2013/05/lake-padden-and-padden-ridge.html

Taken on Memorial Day hike in the Chuckanuts with son Edward. It was not a very nice day and when finally it began to rain hard we gave it up, hiked out and went to the local coffee shop to warm up. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-chuckanuts.html

This is one of those photos in which I am trying to capture something of what our forests are like and what it is like to hike them in them. The photo was taken on a Memorial Day hike with son Edward in the Chuckanut Mountains. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-chuckanuts.html

Clayton Beach is part of Larrabee State Park, a beautiful park that fronts the Straits of San Juan and includes the Chuckanut Mountains, a low range that connects the North Cascades with the sea. Clayton Beach is known for its unusual formations of Chuckanut sandstone, some of which can be seen in this picture. The picture was taken late in the summer on an excursion to see the native orchids that were blooming in the area, especially the Broad-leaved Helleborine, Epipactis helleborine. ronaldhanko-orchidhunter.blogspot.com/2012/09/clayton-bea...

This picture was not taken in Larrabee State Park but further south, though still in the Chuckanut Mountains. Had to scramble down a muddy slope from the bridge that crosses the creek to get this picture. The picture is one from the archives and was taken a couple of years ago.